Threading Lightly
by Strawberry Sweet Yume
Summary: The Goddesses tied red threads between people, everyone knew that. During one's lifetime they would never break but once they died they came undone and as life once again came had to be redone. The only ones that always remained were those between Royals. Jokers never had any but Gilbert always found his way to his brother and, strangely, to the melancholic Queen of Spades. PrUK
1. The Council of the Goddesses

The Council of the Goddesses

"My Ladies of Light, with all due respect-"

"I do believe that would be all of it." A lithe voice of spurn gold spoke, radiating with amusement and perhaps a bit of scorn in its narrow changes.

The Joker would have had a mind to glare at the Goddess of Diamonds, dressed in her diamond powdered robe. The lady in gold looked at him expectantly and he almost rolled his eyes. "With _all_ respect," he started again, giving the Goddess a look which she returned with an amused giggle. "A soul quickly grows weary of living too long." He continued once again, seriously, his red eyes looking at the four goddesses in the room each one more beautiful than the other. They at least had the courtesy to regard him with curiosity for a good moment. Then, an icy voice made its way through the quiet and ripped at it under the disguise of a gentle breeze. He could almost feel it scraping and caressing his cheek, all in one.

"Have you grown tired of your immortality, Joker?" the Goddess on the far end of the room, the single one dressed in pants and heavy robes, asked. She wore fur boots and seemed very misplaced among the others with her braided white hair and heavy clothing. Her voice was sweet, almost gentle, but also seemed to hold a threat the Joker was not about to answer less she grew spiteful of him. He had not even been the one they were speaking of. Seeming to push his wishes and words under the rug, the Clubian Goddess released him from her gaze.

For a moment silence was the only sound as the different Goddesses looked at each other.

The Goddess of Hearts had the decency to look a tad guilty as she wrung her small hands in the lap of her thin summer dress. She might have not been the one the Joker had called out but she knew she was the reason he had started with this. It had been a capricious whim of hers when she had first done it, just as it had been a capricious whim from all of them to make him a Joker. Gilbert had been a King, there was no mistaking that, but with favouritism from the Goddesses came a price which must be paid. He had been loved, by his family, by his people and by the Goddess of Hearts. Soon, the others had also gotten in on it and decided he had been perfect for a little role they had in mind. They needed someone to give power to that would stay true to the realm, power to sustain it if it ever was to fall apart or they were to ever go in conflict. Gilbert had seemed the perfect piece for that. Upon their meeting they had given him the name of 'Joker' for the jokes and smart remarks he had made. It had been for amusement but it had stuck and so the Goddess had gotten their Joker.

Gilbert had soon found that he was visible to people and could interact with them, thankfully. He had been happy with it but as he lived people died…it saddened him, as it would anyone. Goddesses never really had much regard for that, but the Goddess of Hearts seemed to have gotten a few new favourites. The King of Hearts that followed in his footsteps, his little brother, Ludwig Belschmidt, then the Joker of Hearts who in a past life had been the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Gilbert's heart if he was to be sincere, Feliciano Vargas. The last to complete her set had been the Queen of Hearts, Kiku Honda and once her set was complete she did not want to let it go. She weaved a spell so after their deaths they would be reincarnated. Each and every time they would come back with the same appearance and would take up their duty as Queen, King and Jack, while in their absence trustworthy people would be picked to temporarily rule. It was a silly game of favourites that kept the Goddess happy.

Seeing this, the rest had taken after her. The Goddess of Winter had chosen her King and weaved the same spell. The Goddess of Diamonds had used it on her own King and, finally, the Goddess of Spades had weaved it upon her Jack. Each seemed set on finding her perfect set but that took trial and failure and most were quickly getting impatient…and the Joker was not as funny when he was not joking.

"Has your soul grown weary?" a soft silk voice said and they all turned their eyes to the Goddess gowned in purple with blue roses in her hair. A very capricious Goddess who seemed to see things even they could not as she moved pebbled among the table in the middle and rippled through invisible water that came alive to her touch. A most dangerous Goddess weaved of magic and, if one was to disregard the roses in her hair and her gentle mannerism, darkness.

"No, my Lady." The Joker answered her in a soft voice, sighing softly. A most pretentious Goddess…

"Then why should they?" And she threw a few pebbles she had been holding onto the big table in the room. It was a strange table that seemed to change shapes and be whatever was needed for them as they sat on their chairs around it. It held more interest for some than others and the Goddesses always stood differently. They seemed to always do things differently. While the Spadian had never really leaned over as if she knew what was happening, the Goddess of Diamonds was always leaning over with curiosity, just as the Goddess of Hearts watched the world on the table, the world their people lived in, with caught curiosity and gentle brown eyes, which sometimes turned red and fiery. The Goddess of Clubs seemed uninterested most of the time but sharper than any of them. Gilbert knew all of them well. He had had years to do so.

"Humans are different from me. I'm the Joker."

"Is your pride hurt?" the golden voice teased while its owner played with an imperial topaz.

Gilbert had a mind to ignore her as he continued. "Humans are brittle. Last time Feli and Kiku were born years apart from Ludwig." He pointed out and noticed the lady clad in red worry her ruby red lips.

"A minor mistake." The icy voice cut through simply.

"How do you know that was not her intention?" The Goddess of Diamonds had always loved his jests, but never his seriousness when it came down to it. She never saw him as more than a toy in truth, he believed. And from what he heard she was gaining a similar status in his own mind.

"Because our Lady of Summer never thought to make her perfect set without Feli and Ludwig falling for one another." The words rang true and a glare went toward him as their subject of discussion cringed. She knew it was true as well. Her reason for putting them together was because they had loved each other so much in their past lives. Each time they would fall in love and each time she would watch them with endearment and adoration…last time had gone wrong.

"It's one set." The Spadian Goddess spoke, moving a few pebbles on her part of the table. She seemed as if she was not even part of the discussion as she looked into them. The Joker could almost see how she looked for her own choices. Who to put next on the throne? A knight? A commoner? An artist? Should she follow the example of others and if she did which would she follow? Let the people and her heart choose like the Lady of Summer? Follow the Diamonds in picking her favourite or go with logic as the Goddess of Clubs had done? It was infuriating to be ignored in a theme you were discussing.

"There are no other full sets." He pointed out and by then the one clad in Diamonds was playing with a few things on her playtable. She had yet to find someone to fill the rest of the sets as well. The single one who seemed calm and patient about it was the Goddess of Clubs but she wished to do the same as the others.

All were trying to preserve something which should have long been dead. Humans did not come back to life or get reincarnated a moment later, they were put in a circle and after years, sometimes centuries, they came back on earth differently, sometimes they weren't even humans anymore but animals. As the Goddesses of the Earth they had a right to do as they wished but they were messing with the order they had first set. It was his duty to tell them to stop but who would listen? Even the sweet Goddess of Hearts wanted to preserve her favourites and would not relent.

"There will be soon enough." The confidence in the voice of the Spadian Goddess sent an unpleasant shiver down his spine. Gilbert was about to contradict her once again, to put forth why it was a bad idea but he was cut off by ice.

"It will happen." It said. "And we have made our decisions."

And he knew in that moment that it would not change. They knew everything he wanted to say and everything that had been and would be said but they would continue regardless. His breath was merely an annoying breeze. He grinded his teeth but said nothing.

"You may be excused." A voice as sweet as honey told him and he did not bother looking at the Goddess of Hearts…there wasn't anything else he could do.

The room seemed to dissolve in front of him and the last sound that remained with him were pebbles rolling on stone and wood with a giggle of gold in the air.


	2. Little Brother

Little Brother

The little boy crowned in gold looked around carefully with eyes of clear water. No one was around except for the imposing double doors to his left. The wall and doors were both richly decorated in red and white. A heart stood proudly at the top of them, the sigil of the Kingdom, then spread out in decorations of white to which the red was almost lost except for the pattern of hearts that came back every now and then at the edges. A most peculiar decoration were the black hearts taking most of the door and rich blood red, opposed to the warm colours the young prince wore. Ludwig had never liked those doors ever since his arrival in the castle. He often looked upon them and thought them unnatural and cold, strange. Hearts was a warm country despite its problems, even the weather was rarely gloomy. The black hearts were surely the same symbol as the red one on top, surely not Spades but, regardless, they seemed to give the exact same feeling.

Hearts should not be cold…

He cautiously approached them. Even if they looked unnatural and strange they never scared him, just intrigued and put him on edge for the moment as if something was soon to happen and yet he could never know for sure. Reaching out, he felt the texture underneath his small fingers, cold and solid. Taking a deep breath, he looked around once more to make sure no one was around then pulled on one of the handles and tried opening the heavy door. He managed to move it just enough to peek in. The inside looked…so normal. Red plush chairs, decorations, a few things in the corner he could not distinguish, the old well-kept paintings, what he recognized on the walls as rewards and decorations for bravery and skill in war and battle, the edge of a bed and a nightstand with pictures scattered about and – was that a plushy? He blinked and squinted his eyes trying to see better. Maybe if he could push the door a little more…

"Your brother is yet to arrive, your highness."

The polite voice momentarily scared the child out of his wits as he jumped and turned around, back against the door and suddenly out of breath. The woman was almost inclined to shake her head as the child's face turned the colour of his clothes in pure embarrassment. "He will come. Until then it may be wise not to go into his room." And so the heavy door once again closed against its twin with a heavy click, red furniture and beautiful paintings fading from his view, instead replaced with the pattern of white, red and cold black hearts. The woman gestured Ludwig to follow and the boy did so obediently as he was led to lunch, not risking another glance behind at the two heavy doors. He felt embarrassed by being caught red handed as he peeked into _that_ room, but, despite that, did not feel guilty. He held no real attachment to it.

Noticing the boy's silence, the woman sighed softly and moved her braided hair over her shoulder. Once they were in the dining room, she gave him a gentle smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure the Goddesses are just keeping him busy." And with that she left him to his lunch. His 'brother'…He did not have a brother, yet everyone agreed he did like a silent rule only he did not know. He didn't have a brother. Brothers were related by blood. How could he have an older brother not related by blood? The thought always plagued him with waves of dread and envy. How come he was the only one not to know what all this meant, as if he was the only one that common sense went over? He was a smart child; he learnt his manners and did well in classes, so how come this, something so obvious to everyone, always escaped him? Whenever he asked of him he'd only receive the other's praises: how good a ruler he had been, how much he had looked after him, how well he took care of problems, how favoured he was by the Goddesses…it made him wish he would at least for once be told something negative of the other. Something human. If he cared so much for him where was he now anyway? Why did it feel like he was so distant and cold when he wasn't even there yet? Just like those doors: strange and cold.

Even the Lady of Summer agreed…

Hearts should not be cold…

~0~~0~~0~~0~

"My Ladies of Light," The Joker spoke, bowing in the presence of the four Goddesses that materialized before him…or perhaps he was the one to materialize before them. In the end it always remained as a paradox of time and space as he gazed upon them. The surroundings were that of a peculiar living room. Each Goddess seemed to have taken to her own endeavours and the only one to look up was the Goddess of Hearts who smiled at him warmly.

"Gilbert." She greeted sweetly in a voice of dripping honey and milk. Slim fingers moved her short black hair behind her ear as her red eyes fixed upon him. She was seated on the ground with her legs to the side, leaning on her arm in a way that reminded the Joker of the mermaids he would sometimes spot in his brief visits to Spades. Her neck was adorned with a long necklace that reached her stomach in waves above a light pink summer blouse which covered leggings. Somewhere nearby the floor to the living room seemed to disappear and turn into grass and flowers, some of them obscured by what he could only assume was a game. On the other side of the board game the Goddess of Spring stood dressed in a gown of spun gold with small diamonds around her neck line which trickled down the margins in large shimmering patterns.

She smiled.

"Have you come to entertain us, Joker?" Dices that looked more like spheres with minuscule edges rolled between her fingers and then clattered softly upon the board game, barely missing a ruby flower that served for the Lady of Summer's game piece. "Come, join us for a game! I'm winning!" she declared giddily as an area on the board turned gold. The red Goddess merely smiled sweetly at her companion.

"Unfortunately, not today." The Goddess of Diamonds made a defeated sound and gave him one of the best pouts he'd seen – Gilbert was quite sure she had been the one to teach Francis to do the same during one of their meetings, or perhaps he read too much into the similarities. For all he knew the Goddess could have chosen Francis exactly for that reason. Somewhat expected for her to choose someone with the same temperament. "In truth, I am here to take my leave for a while." 

"Leave!?" That seemed to have caught the Goddess of Diamond's attention though none of the others batted an eyelash.

"He's meeting his little brother." A voice as clear as ice crystals answered from the other side of the room. The Goddess of Clubs wore a fitting blouse, pants, her long boots and had, surprisingly, let her hair loose. She made no move as she spoke, eyes barely glancing in their direction for a moment before returning to the window she was leaning on. The view was a complete opposite of the two Goddesses standing closer to Gilbert, showing a land of ice with heavy snow falling. The Joker knew her well enough by now to tell she was just taking in the peace and quiet in one of her more rare moods.

The Goddess of Spring made a small sound of realization before turning back to look at the Joker. "Is he more entertaining than our games?" she asked playfully, watching as the Lady of Summer rolled the strange dice.

"Hmm," Gilbert put his chin in his hand, looking as if he was thinking about it for a moment before smirking. "He _does_ pout less." He admitted, making the Goddess of Diamond give an exaggerated gasp of offense before, once again, pouting while her game partner giggled and he could even see the other two Goddesses smiling softly at the light jab. Of course, the Goddess of Spades was always listening even when she seemed to not pay any attention to them. Today she held a large book and was flicking through pages painted with invisible sights, her thin purple dress falling next to her as if she was in a painting, fading into mist where it met the books that stood around her chair.

"Do greet him for me, Gilbert. I shall come see him upon his next sun turn." The Goddess of Hearts asked of him and he nodded obediently.

"Of course, my Lady of Summer." He once again bowed to them. "Farewell."

"You know we will."

And with those last words of amusement from the Goddess clad in gold and diamonds, everything seemed to disappear and instead of the peculiar living room he found himself in a familiar bedroom. His eyes fell upon a painting and he smiled.

"I missed this place…"

~0~~0~~0~~0~

Early afternoon found Ludwig studying for one thing or another with his private tutor. The man was old and not much fun but he did teach well. He had a kind personality, but strict. Sometimes Ludwig really wanted to just go outside though, learning about things to do with Royalty and etiquette, history and the Goddesses…all of this was still learning and wore off on a child. He didn't understand why he had to be better than others, why all of these expectations were flung at him and placed on his shoulders. Even so, he did not complain or question them. The decisive tones and slightly strict voices silenced anything he might have wanted to ask and he merely obeyed what they told him to. Read, study, learn, eat when the time was right, keep clean, don't go there, stay safe, take a guard with you and stay on castle grounds till you're older, learn to fight…the routine was comforting and well-structured but still tiring. His motivation for learning had long since died and now only came back in sparks. He wished he didn't have to learn anything and wondered if he had not had that mark on his hand, if he had had clear skin and eyes of a different colour, would life had been easier? Brighter? Filled with colours different from red and gold, from all of the pink decorating the palace walls? The thoughts were useless for he had never known them enough to imagine them. Every thought of colour turned grey, red or died down too quickly for him to grasp.

"Now, let us move on to the vocabulary."

The boy's eyes snapped up in slight surprise. It had barely been ten minutes. He couldn't memorize all of the verbs the man had given him in that short amount of time. He had barely figured out somewhat of a rule for them. His eyes settled on the teacher who was already getting another book from the pile nearby before taking Ludwig's away. The future King didn't say anything. He was expected to know them somehow. 10 minutes was enough to learn a lot of verbs, huh? Maybe it was him that was in the wrong? The shuffling of the books were the only thing in the silence of the room for a moment before the teacher's eyes settled on the boy with curiosity. "Something the matter, your majesty?"

Ludwig shook his head.

The teacher nodded.

"Very well then." Another, bigger book, was picked from the pile by now and opened up at a page full of words in small cursive writing. They made Ludwig feel dread pile up somewhere in the back of his mind but he ignored it, trying to remember what he had to know about the verbs, hoping his photographic memory had been enough to at least keep every ending in mind correctly. The teacher droned on for another 10 or fifteen minutes with words, having Ludwig repeat them. He tended to give explanations in the taught language, most which Ludwig had difficulty grasping even when he did his best. Somewhere in the middle of it he chuckled. "Ah, but of course your majesty knows most of these words already!"

He didn't.

However it was an assumption, an expectation, and he said nothing to the other…he could catch up once he was gone, surely. He just had to make an effort to get most things right now. The man always looked so displeased even at the simplest of mistakes. It made the boy anxious to even try answering, however well he might have hid it behind a mask of indifference.

There was no sound or disturbance. The teacher droned on once again and Ludwig listened the best he could, trying to answer when he was asked or play it off when he didn't know the answer, at least guess. Not that they had started with the questions for long but Ludwig had long since learnt to read the clock well enough to know that since they had spent so little time on learning, the questions would be the main part of this sessions and he wasn't sure he'd pass them. It was quiet, the outside noises and songs of the nearby birds had been muted by the large windows covered with heavy curtains and the heavy wooden door looked as if it had never even moved from its place. No sound came in…so it was understandable how the teacher almost had a heart attack and Ludwig almost fell off of his chair in shock when the curtains suddenly seemed to pull themselves aside with violent wisps of winds beating into them as the windows burst open and the heavy double doors were suddenly against the wall with a slam so loud he was sure the guards were thinking an assassination attempt was happening! Hell, even Ludwig thought that for a good moment even with the shock from the situation! The light from the windows almost blinded him after keeping them closed for so long and, while the birds had flown off already, making it impossible to hear their songs anymore, the one that had entered seemed to make more than enough noise with his announcement.

"The awesome me has arrived!" He declared and Ludwig was sure his teacher was suffering from more than a heart attack at this moment. And, once again, the old man seemed to know more than him. A look of recognition was on his face as he tried to pull himself up on shaky legs and Ludwig felt slightly spiteful and annoyed that this man knew more than him on this particular case, a case in which he actually needed knowledge and had none! What had all of the other things helped him with anyway!? Not that he had enough time to think of that as the man in the door entered the room fully. His peculiar coloured eyes had settled upon Ludwig with such joy and adoration that the boy was stumped on what to do as the strange man got closer in great strides, a pleased grin lighting his pale features, the wind from outside forming a soft breeze and blowing through his hair.

It was scary.

His world had been quiet and dreary, running slow.

Now though?

Now it seemed too quick, too bright and the man in front of him looked too much like one of the pictures he had seen in his books, the type of 'devil' that took mean children away, the ones that didn't listen to their parents and didn't do their homework. Was he here because he had not wanted to learn anymore? And if he was so horrible why were his eyes so sincerely and innocently happy as he looked at him? Good or bad, he felt somewhat threatened as the man came closer and seemed able to touch him – maybe hit him? – if he wanted to. His blue eyes were wide with wonder and fear, but his body was frozen to the spot…

Instead of bringing his hand down or even reaching out, the man placed his right hand over his heart and kneeled in front of him like a knight of old.

Time stopped.

Suddenly, he stopped being scary.

"Your majesty," Red eyes did not look up once as he spoke. "I have come to, once again, meet you."

The words did not immediately make sense to the young King. He could not remember this person. This was normal though, after all, he had not met him right? But had that been the case the wording would have been different. It might have been a comic imagine, this man kneeling before him in the manner of times long past but it somehow felt right, solemn even, and his words rang truer than any knight or subject who had ever sworn themselves to him as their King. He could not quite tell anything from behind them, any concrete reason, but the way they rung through the room, the confidence they held and the sharpness of the accent seemed, irrationally so, more important. Despite the pose, the man was dressed strangely. He wore a red blouse underneath a strange…coat? Too short for a coat, perhaps a hoodie was a better term, a hoodie with what looked like ears attached to it…His pants were also quite strange, not the slightly puffy kind the royalty and nobility of Hearts and Diamonds wore, they seemed made in a Spadian fashion almost but even then they somehow did not have the same level of importance. He wore boots, they looked stylish in a weird way but common and Ludwig was sure that was considered disrespectful, walking into the room with the King in boots when you could have dressed for the occasion. Even so, he managed to look more like a knight than some of the greatest paintings Ludwig had ever seen and, if just for a moment, he could see the other in white with black decorations, a cape falling from his shoulders…

The illusion disappeared and his eyes fell upon a pendant at the man's neck in the shape of a black heart…

It looked as if it was made of metal but there was something strange about it.

Even so, he was sure if he touched it, the pendant would be as cold as the dead of a winter night.

Hearts should not be cold…

"I cannot promise you my allegiance as a force or my powers to fall back on in case of a disaster, but I would like to offer myself, my protection and everything I can give as your brother." It almost startled the boy when the man once again met his eyes, warm, sweet crimson locking on his sky blue pools. For a small moment Ludwig thought he saw a sadness there, just for one fleeting moment.

"If you would have me, that is." His smile turned surprisingly warm and friendly.

A smile of a warmth and affection that caught the young King off guard graced his lips and Ludwig felt warmth fill his own heart at such a loving gaze. He couldn't remember anyone having looked at him like that, not even the mother and father he had soon been split apart from upon the discovery of his mark.

He looked so very warm…


End file.
